PNC 08/03/2025

The August 3rd, 2025 PNC Meeting was one of the weekly meetings of the Pirate National Committee (PNC). This meeting took place on IRC.

Meeting Minutes

08:39:09 — 17:57:00 mr_stove, _Ty, Citizen and Cyfun have joined, hvxgr and mr_stove have quit
17:57:11 <Cyfun> Hello there!
17:58:00 <_Ty> hi
17:58:02 pmchi has joined
17:58:37 <Citizen> Hello pirates
17:58:43 <pmchi> Ahoy!
17:58:47 <_Ty> I'm using a different method of connecting, and this white background is painful.
17:59:48 <Cyfun> oof
18:00:12 <pmchi> Yeah that’s no fun
18:01:02 <NomadOfNorad> no Dark Mode in that IRC client, eh?
18:01:20 <pmchi> Unfortunately I only see Arizona and Florida as voting members in attendance tonight. Not enough for quorum for a meeting
18:02:08 <_Ty> There is a dark mode, but I'm on LibreWolf, a privacy-first approach to Firefox and fingerprinting is disabled. I don't want to enemable it either. I'll cast a custom CSS eventually.
18:02:19 <NomadOfNorad> well, its early yet...
18:02:36 <NomadOfNorad> But yeah, more states' reps SHOULD have been here by now.. 0o
18:03:01 <Cyfun> how to get representation for Montana? i could use some help publicing the Pirate cause out here in the middle of nowhere.
18:03:15 — 18:03:23 PNWPirate and EliMass have joined
18:04:16 <pmchi> Well you're actually currently doing the right thing @Cyfun by attending IRC. What were you hoping to see? Did you want to help us get a Montana Pirate Party together?
18:04:45 <Cyfun> well i've already sort of gotten the ball rolling in Yellowstone County. my dad use to run a government agency, so i already have political experience.
18:05:01 <PNWPirate> Hey y’all, newish pirate from Wash. state here’
18:05:52 <pmchi> That’s great @Cyfun! And welcome @PNWPirate!
18:05:55 <Cyfun> Yarrr! Ye Washingtonians could use some sailing lessons from a Montanan. :P
18:07:10 <pmchi> We do have Pirates from Washington who might be interested in getting a Pirate Party together. Montana actually has a lot of interactions on Twitter I’ve noticed so something tells me if we build a Montana Pirate Party, they will come
18:08:51 <_Ty> yus
18:08:52 <pmchi> If you wanted to get a Pirate Party officially started in your state, the following would need to be accomplished:
18:08:52 <pmchi> • Montana/Washington would need a social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
18:08:52 <pmchi> • There needs to be a state Pirate Party website created
18:08:52 <pmchi> • Your state needs 2-3 volunteers, one of which would need to regularly attend PNC meetings. The PNC rep must be at least 18 or older.
18:08:52 <pmchi>
18:08:52 <pmchi> Once those boxes are checked, bylaws and a platform would need to be written for your state Pirate Party. You'll be pretty much clear from there, as it would be a matter of announcing you're is ready to become an official state party and it being brought to a vote.
18:09:16 <Cyfun> fun story, but i'm actual a literal pirate. i run a junkyard, racetrack, and pirate drive-in movie theater adjacent to the Yellowstone River.
18:09:39 <pmchi> Arizona just sent through the process, they didn’t wait long!
18:09:44 PNWPirate has quit
18:10:06 <pmchi> @Cyfun: that’s awesome! Genuinely very cool stuff!
18:10:34 PNWPirate has joined
18:10:43 <NomadOfNorad> Any chance of pictures of those places onto the Discord, Cyfun? :D
18:11:18 <pmchi> Yeah feel free to share in the Discord under off topic!
18:11:20 <Cyfun> sure, or just check out my google maps profile: https://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=vigilantes+paradise
18:11:21 <papegaai> Title: Google Maps (at www.google.com)
18:11:53 <Cyfun> i currently live in an old machine shop i converted in a steampunk church
18:12:11 <NomadOfNorad> kewl
18:12:43 <pmchi> That’s actually very rad lol
18:13:15 <Cyfun> what i'd like to do is help you guys do some fundraising
18:14:25 <pmchi> We are missing CA, IL, IN, TX and PA so unfortunately there’s no meeting today for the new folks who popped in as we have no met quorum
18:14:38 <Cyfun> weak
18:14:45 <pmchi> @Cyfun: We definitely could use help in that department. What ideas did you have?
18:14:46 EliMass has left
18:15:05 <pmchi> There goes MA lol
18:15:07 <NomadOfNorad> Well, an informal confab is still good to have
18:15:33 <Citizen> I'd like to make it easier for state parties to copy the https://uspirates.org/ web presence. Should I attend the IT-committee meetings to talk about that?
18:15:36 <papegaai> Title: United States Pirate Party – No safe harbor for the enemies of liberty (at uspirates.org)
18:15:37 <Cyfun> well politics is just theater, so as a professional stuntdriver, i figured some Evel Knievel-level shennanigans are warranted 18:16:09 <Cyfun> for starters, i wanted to protest the Amtrak funding getting cut for Montana by jumping the train tracks in downtown Billings. :P
18:16:17 <NomadOfNorad> So, crazy motorcycle rider in pirate garb? :D
18:16:57 <NomadOfNorad> or in a dunebuggy, come to that
18:18:12 <pmchi> Yeah this is still a good opportunity to ask the questions being asked, even if official business isn’t being conducted. @Citizen actually that would be very helpful thank you! Yes attending IT committee and getting in touch with Jamie and Morgan would be best. @Cyfun that does make me chuckle because it’s somehow very on brand lol actually a protest like that is totally something we'd back. That’s something negatively impacting the common folk
18:18:12 <pmchi> of Billings, definitely something worth raising awareness of
18:19:14 <_Ty> The next IT Meeting is the 6th at 9 PM EST. There have been a few attempts at making it easier to fork websites, but we've mostly found most people are best starting off with a simple flat file website, se, even hosted by GitHub Pages. WordPress in itself requires a hefty bill, at least $2.50-3 a month, and this is you are command-line familiar, otherwise you're paying for a shared host.
18:19:17 <pmchi> A Montana Pirate Party getting off the ground and immediately protesting? I like the sound of that
18:19:23 <Cyfun> Billings, Montana has the highest rates of suicide, depression, and alcoholism in the country. And our hospitals can't stay staffed. it's a serious problem. especially among the local Native population.
18:19:44 <_Ty> It'd be neat if there were enough demand, it'd be possible to create a pool fund to do just that- help people jumpstart (I once had a Gangplank plan up) to halve or eliminate the costs for new pirate websites, but no one ever takes it up.
18:19:56 <Cyfun> i used to be the night shift IT guy for the hospitals here, so i know about it first-hand
18:20:24 <Cyfun> i like the idea of fuelling state Pirate Parties, so they can gain independent traction
18:20:26 Rowan has joined
18:20:49 <_Ty> We will have to explore what the current USPIrates host is capable of doing
18:21:10 <Rowan> Hello, Rowan YPUSA Inaugural Captain, ILPP.
18:21:23 <_Ty> without caching, Wordpress is to top-heavy, so gotta tread lightly.
18:21:36 <_Ty> *so
18:21:38 <Cyfun> i work for a local ISP and have a fat fiber pipe if anyone needs hosting...
18:22:47 <Cyfun> tryna roll my own social network for the Crow Reservation and outlying area. i miss the days of dial-up BBSes...
18:23:25 <NomadOfNorad> Ah, dial-up BBSs.... my current nick here came from that era. :D
18:23:32 <_Ty> I like Elgg for social network engine.
18:23:43 <pmchi> Hey Rowan, we actually don't have quorum so no worries about IDing, we are currently having a chat. Discussing Montana and how the Pirate Party could make a difference there. Cyfun I have never been to Montana but I know for a fact we have had movement in the state. You are one of the few states I am confident in saying that, if you build a state party, we'll be able to find you volunteers
18:24:54 <NomadOfNorad> My choice of nick actually came partly from the fact I was planning to run a BBS with WOPR from the movie WarGames as the motif and theme. The Nomad part came over from part of my previous nick.
18:25:08 <Rowan> Can I make a point related to the app we are discussing on?
18:25:19 <Citizen> I will try to join on Wednesday, thank you. I figured it was WordPres. I'll research it a bit.
18:25:58 <pmchi> Please Rowan go ahead
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18:27:20 <Rowan> I know this might be controversial and I realize we do not have quorum but I still use formalities, but I don’t believe this is a good outlet to discuss the issues/projects/activities of our party. I find text based chat is less engaging, has a harsher flow and due to this it makes it hard to address the previously mentioned subjects, and I
18:27:49 <Rowan> *and I think we should consider using Jitsi as our main outlet of communication for meetings.
18:27:59 <_Ty> Jitsi is not fully accessible.
18:28:15 <Rowan> How so? Want to understand for full clarity.
18:28:16 <Cyfun> i've been meaning to try Jitsi. is it ready for mainstream use yet?
18:28:20 <_Ty> We must think about people with screen readers, as an example.
18:28:20 <NomadOfNorad> I personally like alternating bewtween IRC (or some other chat service) and Jitsi calls.
18:28:40 <_Ty> Or people who want to remain as anonymous as possible on first entry.
18:28:54 <_Ty> Jitsi uses websockets, effectively exposing whatever IP you're on, and not everyone can afford a VPN.
18:29:06 <NomadOfNorad> As for Jitsi: it works fine, and can be easily simulcast to Youtube, since we do it all the time for ours
18:29:25 <Rowan> While I respect your points Ty, but I also think we need to think about productivity.
18:29:40 <Rowan> *Ty, I also…
18:30:10 <Rowan> I also think that if someone must be so anonymous their voice cannot be heard in a meeting there is questions to be asked.
18:30:35 <NomadOfNorad> Well, anonymity is at least somewhat of an illusion... but yeah, extra bits of privacy protection does make a certain amount ot sense to have, though.
18:30:41 <Rowan> I also know that there is accessibility software for video calling.
18:31:06 <Rowan> Having had fellow students use it during Covid with zoom classes
18:31:16 <_Ty> Jitsi also has lack of moderation controls.
18:31:32 <Rowan> Can you expand on that point?
18:31:35 <_Ty> You cannot mute bad actors.
18:31:47 <Rowan> You can kick them no? As the host?
18:31:48 <NomadOfNorad> or eject them from the chat?
18:32:00 <_Ty> The chat would require a password to keep them out, otherwise kicking them does nothing.
18:32:19 <Cyfun> it would seem to me the job of the actual political Pirate Party candidates/representatives would be to bridge that gap between public figures and those wishing to remain anonymous
18:32:23 <Rowan> That is a fair point maybe we should consider that.
18:32:32 <_Ty> so, if something goes wrong, the password must be changed and sent again to all participants in case they drop.
18:32:33 <Rowan> A password for our Jitsi meetings.
18:32:40 <pmchi> Jitsi meetings are volatile, which is why the link is only giving to trusted attendees. IRC is important because we give them the chance to pop their head in and show face
18:32:44 <Cyfun> how many folks here wanna be actively involved, and who prefers to work behind the scenes?
18:32:52 <NomadOfNorad> We DO usually only give the address of our jitsi chatroom to those we have prescreened tho, so there is that
18:33:30 <NomadOfNorad> and yeah, what pmchi said
18:33:32 <Rowan> Agreed
18:34:14 <Rowan> I just personally think IRC is usually a format that doesn’t engage our members.
18:34:51 <pmchi> I noticed the folks that want to work behind the scenes exclusively are few and far between the folks that will do what it takes for their state party. Still, we have had individuals meaning harm to the party infiltrate. It is a safety concern is all. Not everyone is a safety concern, but the ones that are, are
18:34:53 <_Ty> Just remember your IP is exposed in Jitsi, so offering just anyone the ability to see you is a grave danger.
18:35:03 <NomadOfNorad> IRC has the advantage that its trivially easy to keep a chat transcript of for posterity.
18:35:12 <pmchi> ^^
18:35:35 <pmchi> We are supposed to upload transcripts of every meeting to the Pirate Wiki as well
18:35:42 <pmchi> IRC makes that easier
18:36:02 <Rowan> I hear those points, I just think talking/voice based discussion presents more results then text based ones but I could be wrong.
18:36:17 <_Ty> and what about the hearing impaired?
18:36:29 <Citizen> I'm prefer to work behind the scenes. I also have issues with both Jitsi and IRC for technical accessibility (cam/mic not recognized on device, browser IRC not working) but those are mostly on my end.
18:36:34 <_Ty> We can't count on live captioning to always be effective.
18:36:35 <Rowan> There are caption options, no? If not software that could be applied to do so.
18:36:35 <Cyfun> this is why i came out of the closet as a Pirate years ago. so much simpler than trying so desperately to stay anonymous
18:38:09 <pmchi> There should be a better method than IRC coming at some point. There’s a Discord clone to be released that’s more aligned with Pirate praxis. I’m hoping to migrate to that once it’s released and meetings could be help there
18:38:20 <_Ty> welp, bring it up again next Sunday. we've discussed it before, including moving meetings. we usually end up back at the same place, but it is good to raise the question with different viewpoints and elaborations.
18:38:30 <pmchi> I feel unwilling to move official meetings to the Discord server as it stands
18:38:46 <Rowan> I think we have to decide if we want to be a niche political party or an overall engaging party. That is my personal opinion, we could work to a general audience, or one that is highly technologically based.
18:39:37 <Rowan> Sorry if I sound harsh.
18:39:50 <Rowan> I am not trying to, but I feel like I am in an IT meeting rather than a political one.
18:40:10 <NomadOfNorad> in any event, IRC is old enough, tried-and-true enough, that there's a bazillion chat clients available for it, and the chatroom can be running on whatever machine you want it on, so long as it has internet access.
18:40:26 <NomadOfNorad> and also is not proprietary
18:40:58 <Rowan> I just know that there are folks who share pirate values but also aren’t tech wizzes. M
18:41:36 <Cyfun> i'm willing to chip in on a sign-language translator, just to watch them angrily gesticulate all my techinical jargon to luddites. xD
18:41:51 <NomadOfNorad> LOL!!!!
18:42:06 <pmchi> No I appreciate that Rowan thank you. I don't disagree it's just a matter of what has worked for us and what we need to think about for the future. I don’t disagree with your assessments. Niche I believe we might always be, but small and irrelevant is not one I foresee us being forever. I think we do need to grow, it's where and how and what needs to happen that we need to tackle first
18:42:09 <Rowan> I understanding maintaining praxis, but I also think if we want to grow we have to be flexible. To garner a more general audience.
18:42:33 <_Ty> I have to get ready for work. Stay antiDRM and Vote Pirate! ya'll tc
18:42:45 <Rowan> See ya Ty, all love and vote pirate!
18:42:49 <Cyfun> a Discord/Telegram clone would be ideal.
18:42:57 <pmchi> You do need to understand the disconnect between advocating for open source and privacy and primarily using Discord lol
18:42:58 <NomadOfNorad> That said, I DO remember there being talk of IRC-gateways, to crosspost the whole chat to a different chatroom system or systems on the fly.
18:43:02 <Cyfun> Adios, matey.
18:43:25 <pmchi> Revolt is the Discord clone I have my eye on. Looks near identical. That’s what I plan on migrating towards
18:44:12 <Cyfun> I've had ReVolt installed for years... does anyone actuall use it?
18:44:23 <Rowan> I just think we need meetings to be video or audio based, no matter the platform.
18:44:32 <Rowan> Typing is not as engaging or fluid in my mind.
18:45:10 <pmchi> Do you use Revolt for PC? It looked like the app for Apple was in Beta still
18:45:38 <Rowan> I need to check it out
18:45:55 <Rowan> Can ya text me link?
18:46:01 <pmchi> Actually I don’t disagree Rowan. I think Jitsi meetings are more productive for that some reason
18:46:02 <Citizen> I've never used Revolt but open to trying it.
18:46:05 <Cyfun> true. if we're gonna compete with the political pundits like Faux Nooz, we need a similar gridwork of argumentative podcaster pundits on our own livestreaming chatroom
18:46:42 <NomadOfNorad> hmmmm... and crosspost our vids to Rumble and Bitchute? :)
18:46:51 <Rowan> We need our voices to be heard, not our messages to be read in other words.
18:47:27 <pmchi> LOL
18:47:35 <pmchi> No Rowan I do agree
18:47:43 <Cyfun> Are you suggesting that we get attention by hotsting a karaoke contest?
18:47:51 <Rowan> I would love to help start the podcast or stream of pirates.
18:47:52 <Cyfun> *hosting
18:47:56 <Rowan> I love talking.
18:48:20 <NomadOfNorad> "This week on Pirates Singing Badly.....!" :D :D :D
18:48:25 <pmchi> We actually will be bringing back Talk the Plank on Sept. 19th, Talk Like a Pirate Day
18:48:39 <Rowan> Lmk how I can help man!
18:48:41 <Cyfun> it's a good thing i've been setting up this Pirate Radio Station for my drive-in movie theater...
18:49:03 <Cyfun> we could broadcast our podcasts into the Yellowstone County Jail!
18:49:06 <pmchi> Praxis so good it brings a tear to my eye
18:49:09 <Rowan> Ayyo
18:49:48 <Cyfun> my steampunk church recognizes TLAPD as a religious holiday, as well as Douglas Adams' Towel Day on May 25
18:50:34 <Rowan> We should consider having a Twitch account too
18:50:43 <NomadOfNorad> hmmm... does it also recognize Star Wars Day. May The 4th (Be With You)?
18:50:50 <Rowan> Intellectual property is a huge issue for streamers
18:51:40 <Cyfun> i'm actually meeting with the Star Trek First Contact Convention planners in Bozeman next week to discuss getting Harrison Ford to personally fly in his helicopter next year
18:51:56 <pmchi> Actually I do want to stream to Twitch as well
18:51:57 <Citizen> Twitch/YT, clipped and short friendly topics would be cool to see.
18:52:16 <pmchi> We really should have YouTube shorts made from our meetings
18:52:28 <Rowan> I know praxis is vital be we also need to use social media a majority of people use to get their attentions
18:52:34 <Rowan> *attention
18:52:43 <Rowan> YouTube shorts also outside of our meetings.
18:52:43 <Cyfun> i got censored on Twitch this morning for playing Gary Numan music while livestreaming Wreckfest. utter bastards, they are.
18:52:57 <Rowan> Exactly intellectual property is an issue for streamers
18:53:03 <Cyfun> it would fun to get banned from Twitch, en masse
18:53:20 * NomadOfNorad gets a goofy, lopsided smile.
18:53:55 <Rowan> Lol
18:53:56 <Cyfun> if we're gonna rise the ranks of Twitch, tho, we'll need to somehow combine pirate-culture with titty-streaming...
18:54:13 <Rowan> Nah just gaming we ain’t doing any of that objectifying stuff
18:54:40 <Rowan> I hate that personally
18:54:43 <pmchi> I like the direct of this conversation. Alas, I do need to get going. Thank you all for popping in tonight! Cyfun you have been in the server for a while, thanks for popping in tonight. Next meeting we will be joined by Tim Grady, independent candidate for Ohio. I plan on getting you the link to join if you would like to be in attendance
18:55:14 <pmchi> I will say there is nothing that might do us better than a beautiful woman wearing a Pirate Party t-shirt lol
18:55:19 <Rowan> Lmk how I can help in the social media front
18:56:07 <Cyfun> lol good chat
18:56:11 <Citizen> Good chatting with everyone! I'm logging off too.
18:56:11 <NomadOfNorad> yup
18:56:25 <Rowan> Goodnight y’all
18:56:28 Rowan has left
18:57:41 <Cyfun> ya shoot me a link
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